Enigmatic Variations No. 1461: Key Change by Brock

A key change in 3 cells based on misprints in 7 across clues reveals 2 new items from a list;  Change a key word entry to reveal another; A reclassification of one item determined by 9 down misprints in wordplay and teh original list to highlight. Quite a preamble – up there with a video recorder instruction manual.

I must admit, I didn’t really follow the preamble when I started, especially with regards to the down clues but that was my fault for not realising they all had misprints.

In the across clues 7 A’s needed to change to E

This led to 3 changes in the grid.

  • The second a in pavan making PAVEN and revealing VENUS
  • The second a in catnap and the a in tunas making CATNEP, TUNES and revealing NEPTUNE

The key word entry to change is minor to MAJOR revealing JUPITER

And the downs spelt out Lower Case (the 9) Opus 32 Holst (the 11).

Opus 32 is the Planet suite by Holst which comprised

Mars, the Bringer of War (1914)
Venus, the Bringer of Peace (1914)
Mercury, the Winged Messenger (1916)
Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity (1914)
Saturn, the Bringer of Old Age (1915)
Uranus, the Magician (1915)
Neptune, the Mystic (1915)

Pluto is also visible in the completed grid and according to Wikipedia, other people have scored this but it is not in the original suite – meaning it should not be highlighted.

Pluto does need to undergo a change to lower case as it is a thematic item, but is no longer considered a planet and the pluto of PLUTOCRACY should be entered in lower case.

And that I believe is that – a veritable solar system of a puzzle. Thanks Brock

Key:

DD double definition; * anagram; Rev. reverse; underline definition; First column misprints shown

 

ACROSS
1 Juggle in half-empty room using six balls (5)
A to E 1 Juggle in half-empty room using six bElls (5)
(in + rom)* = MINOR
5 Flannel provided, having little paper (bathroom necessity) (8)
so (provided) + ft (little paper) + soap (bathroom necessity) = SOFT-SOAP
11 Evenly chop allium, potato (3)
AlLiUm = ALU
12 Reaches end of first stage shattered (6, two words)
(t (end of first) + stage)* = GETS AT
14 Using pot daily? Policeman’s dismissed (5)
Diurnal (daily) – DI (policeman) = URNAL
15 Personal appearance by those leading dance (5)
PA (personal appearance) + van (those leading) = PAVAN
16 American fuel replacing European is advantageous (6)
US (american) + fuel moving (replacing) e = USEFUL
17 Easily overheard sat in hotel perhaps (5)
A to E 17 Easily overheard sEt in hotel perhaps (5)
Homonym of sweet (easily) = SUITE
18 Tropical plant, rare sola (4)
A to E 18 Tropical plant, rare solE (4)
DD PALM
20 Not quite guiltless? Time to worry (4)
free (guiltless) – e + t (time) = FRET
22 Put circle around collapsed manhole with mark erased (6)
(manhole – m)* = ENHALO
25 In retrospect, ‘svelte, elegant’ shows old-fashioned affectation for Patty (6)
A to E 25 In retrospect, ‘svelte, elegant’ shows old-fashioned affectation for PEtty (6)
Rev. Hidden sveELTE ELegant = LEETLE
29 A US taxman’s pomposity (4)
a + IRS (US taxman) = AIRS
32 Record mostly 70s pop? (4)
Disco (70s pop) – o = DISC
33 Confusion about last of bottle? More decant? The opposite (5)
A to E 33 Confusion about last of bottle? More decEnt? The opposite (5)
blur (confusion) around e (last of bottle) = BLUER
34 Kip, 100 at note, apparently (6)
c (100) + at + n (note) + ap(apparently) = CATNAP
35 Fishes are kept in large casks (5)
a (are) in tuns (large casks) = TUNAS
36 Agas destroy opponents leading peaceful society (5)
A to E 36 AgEs destroy opponents leading peaceful society (5)
sedate(peaceful) – se (opponents) + s (society) = DATES
37 Macbeth’s guarded once his fate’s announced (6)
Homonym of weird = WEIRED
38 Greenfield site? Build centrally (3)
erect(build) – et (centrally) = REC
39 Take crumpled slip from display and put ad back in flatter for short-term (8)
(display – slip)* + toy (flatter) around Rev. (ad) = DAY TO DAY
40 Small ‘flashy’ fruit by mistake getting swallowed (5)
A to E 40 Small ‘flEshy’ fruit by mistake getting swallowed (5)
by around err (mistake) = BERRY
DOWN
1 Fine cutting shifting sand harms boggy areas (10)
L 1 Line cutting shifting sand harms boggy areas (10)
(l + sand harms)* = MARSHLANDS
2 Dupe that is ever slow to learn getting upset (6)
O 2 Dupe that is Over slow to learn getting upset (6)
ie (that is) around Rev. dull (slow to learn) = ILLUDE
3 Japanese diplomat returning to York at start of April (5)
W 3 Japanese diplomat returning to Work at start of April (5)
Rev. Go (work)+ at + a (start of April) = OGATA
4 Uncover enclosure in Elderslie cut by moat (6)
E 4 Uncover enclosure in Elderslie cut by mEat (6)
ree (enclosure in Elderslie) – e + veal (meat) = REVEAL
5 Worked hard, but lacking light, closed earlier (7)
R 5 Worked hard, but lacking Right, closed earlier (7)
strapped (worked hard) – r = STAPPED
6 Malfunction where volume in tavern becomes loud (5)
C 6 Malfunction where volume in Cavern becomes loud (5)
vault(cavern) swapping f for v = FAULT
7 Fat lot Monsieur’s leaving by end for Madame (4)
A 7 Fat lot Monsieur’s leaving by And for Madame (4)
sum(lot) – m(monsieur) + et (and for madame) = SUET
8 Composer of housey riff regularly employed (4)
S 8 Composer of houseS riff regularly employed (4)
of (around) RiFf = ORFF
9 A flea turns up inside one frog maybe (6)
E 9 A flee turns up inside one frog maybe (6)
Rev[a + run (flee)] in an (one) = ANURAN
10 Magnates’ ruling: flawed plot accuracy’s last (action’s number one and two) (10)
O 10 Magnates’ ruling: flawed plot accuracy’s lOst (action’s number one and two) (10)
(plot + accuracy – ac)* = PLUTOCRACY
13 Cooking lots up for break (4)
P 13 Cooking Pots up for break (4)
Rev. pans (pots) = SNAP
19 Element of compassion surrounding heart of care (7)
U 19 Element of compassion surrounding heart of cUre (7)
mercy (compassion) around ur (heart of cure) = MERCURY
21 Monstrosities – note runt at anterior (6)
S 21 Monstrosities – note runS at anterior (6)
te (note) + r (runs) + at + a (anterior) = TERATA
23 Tanning agent – 2 doses from top of nebuliser applied repeatedly (6)
3 23 Tanning agent – 3 doses from top of nebuliser applied repeatedly (6)
neb (3 doses from top of nebuliser) x 2 = NEBNEB
24 Attempt to 8, showing embarrassment over German songs (6)
2 24 Attempt to 2, showing embarrassment over German songs (6)
lie (attempt to illude) + Rev. red (embarassment) = LIEDER
26 Gambolling piebald loses calf laid up on two feet (5)
H 26 Gambolling piebald loses Half laid up on two feet (5)
(piebald – la)* = BIPED
27 Wine decanter’s base breaks off in the move (4)
O 27 Wine decanter’s base breaks off On the move (4)
astir (on the move) – r (decanter’s base) = ASTI
28 Clearing Government road for sea freight (5)
L 28 Clearing Government Load for sea freight (5)
g (government) + lade (load for sea freight) = GLADE
30 James Watt’s much inclined to use bent eyebolt in part (4)
S 30 James Watt’s much inclined to use beSt eyebolt in part (4)
Hidden beST EYebolt = STEY
31 Atop scone locally once (4)
T 31 Atop sTone locally once (4)
On (atop) + st (stone) = ONST

 

8 comments on “Enigmatic Variations No. 1461: Key Change by Brock”

  1. Lovely puzzle. I’m not sure if there’s any musical significance to the A/E and MINOR/MAJOR changes; I know The Planets pretty well but I’m not very good on musical theory, so perhaps there’s a change from A minor to E major in one of the movements?

    The “demotion” of PLUTO was a nice touch. I didn’t spot EARTH in the grid and can’t see it now!

  2. A really entertaining puzzle with some lovely touches. I’m also not very musical so not sure about the A/E significance but it did make spotting the other misprints easier after the first couple were found. I also liked PLUTO being entered in lower case and the fact that there were number misprints in a couple of the down clues – sneaky! Despite MERCURY having its own entry I still remained oblivious to the theme right up until the end – in fact I thought it might relate to ORFF at one point until HOLST became obvious from the corrected misprints.

    Thanks to Brock for the puzzle & twenceslas for the blog.

  3. A very nicely constructed puzzle. Maintaining real words at all stages with a significant amount of thematic material was impressive. The minor to major change was also neat, as were the misprinted numbers in clues. Thanks Brock for an enjoyable solve and to twencelas for the review.

  4. I thought this was an outstanding construction, and wholly endorse SI’s comments above.

    Misprints are difficult to manage effectively. Those in definitions can lead to involved circumlocution, and in wordplay the problem is to avoid ambiguity, but these were managed with aplomb. I believe we are promised a setting blog, which will be well worth reading.

  5. Thanks to twencelas for the solving blog with a clear explanation of the clues. Two places where there the clue was parsed slightly differently from my intentions:

    * The complex clue at 39A –
    (display – slip)* + rev. ad within toady (flatter)   = DAY-TO-DAY

    * One of the number misprint clues at 24D -lie (attempt to illude) + Rev. red (adj, showing embarrassment) = LIEDER

    Thank you for kind and generous comments both here and elsewhere. I enjoyed using misprints in a few different ways in the puzzle and I am glad that they were generally well received. For still more devious ways I’ve used misprints in the past, see my Listener puzzle AVERSIONS from some years back.

    The grid was a challenge in some respects, not least avoiding inappropriate and obvious entries to make up URANUS. Getting an appropriate grid fill involved using a less well-known name (OGATA at 3D), but she does deserve to be better known. The A/E key change was not directly of relevance to the piece as far as I am aware (shame), but the entries chosen for the change were significant. As Ifor mentions, there is a brief setter’s blog here – http://bigdave44.com/2020/11/26/ev-1461/

     

  6. I loved this. A real touch of class, various penny drops, lovely clues and a crossword which tells a story. Bravo Brock for a cracker and my thanks to twencelas for the blog.

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